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Microsoft has renovated an online store that combines its Windows Store and Windows Phone Store into one big virtual shopping mall. The newly redesigned app store is part of the company's attempt to unify the Windows 10 experience across all devices -- PCs, tablets and mobile phones. In the past, Windows PC and tablet owners looking for apps would have to browse the Windows Store, while Windows Phone users would have to check out the Windows Phone store. But now this one-stop shop is geared for everyone.

According to The Verge’s Tom Warren, Windows 10 is done, having reached RTM status with build number 10240. The timing is not surprising. Microsoft will release Windows 10 to its testing community on July 29, followed by volume partners and, after, the general public through an update process. RTM builds, in contrast, are designed for equipment manufacturers, who need the code ahead of time to prep new machines. Dell, for example, is committed to selling Windows 10 PCs on the very first day, the 29th, that the code is live.

Microsoft's Operating Systems Group team has added code to the next test build of Windows 10 Mobile that will allow that release to work on the majority of Windows Phones. When Microsoft released the first test build of Windows 10 Mobile in February, it was built to run only on a handful of Lumia devices, specifically the Lumia 630, 635, 636, 638, 730 and 830 phones. Microsoft execs attributed the small number of initially supported devices to the "very tight OS partitions" that left insufficient room for the installation process to update the OS in place.

Yesterday, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 will include a new browser — currently codenamed “Spartan.” At the time, though, it shared very few details about it, something it rectified by posting a more detailed description this morning. What we know now, for example, is that Microsoft will continue to ship Internet Explorer 10 for those who still need some of its legacy features like Active X. IE on Windows 10 will support both Microsoft’s new and old rendering engines, and Spartan can also fall back on the old IE engine when it encounters legacy sites.

Unlucky for some: Happily that doesn't mean your computer is going to automatically break or stop working, but it does mean Microsoft will no longer offer free help and support if you have problems with your Windows 7 software from this point on. No new features will be added either.

Microsoft is beginning to integrate its Bing search technology into Office, starting with Word Online, company officials announced on December 10. Microsoft is calling the new embedded search capability "Insights for Office." Microsoft is rolling out the capability worldwide (everywhere where Bing is available) starting Wednesday. The rollout should be complete within the next few days, officials said.

A little more than a year after Windows 8.1 was made available, the update to Microsoft's PC operating system is finally seeing some progress. The market share of PCs that run Windows 8.1 jumped to 10.9 percent in October, up from 6.7 percent in September and 7.1 percent in August, according to Net Applications, which tracks activity through analyzing the browser hits of specific websites.

At an event in San Francisco, Microsoft announced the next version of its Windows operating system: Windows 10. The name is definitely not in line with expectations, but also comes on the heels of rumor talk that it could pick up another title. Happily, the last 943 people to cover the operating system got the name wrong. Starting today, Microsoft will launch a Windows Insider Program that will give users who are comfortable with running very early beta software access to Windows 10.

Microsoft today confirmed its correctly rumored Windows event that will take place on September 30 in San Francisco. The event is widely expected to include a release of the technical preview of Windows 9, the successor to the controversial Windows 8.x operating system that was released in 2012, along with the Surface line of tablets.

A preview of Windows 9 will be made available in either September or October, according to ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley. That timeline keeps ‘Threshold’ — Windows 9’s codename — out into the public market as a finished product likely in early 2015. The Windows 8 era isn’t merely closing, it’s racing to an end.